


To Save A Life

by Doctormeredithshepherd



Category: Real Person Fiction, Selena Quintanilla (Musician)
Genre: AU, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21969100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doctormeredithshepherd/pseuds/Doctormeredithshepherd
Summary: Selena Quintanilla died unexpectedly at the age of 23 leaving behind loved ones and a newborn son.Mateo has never known his mother due to her untimely death. When he is unexplainably thrown into her past, how can he pass up the opportunity to save her?Completely AUI’ve also published this on wattpad under musicsmysoul313
Relationships: Selena Quintanilla/Chris Perez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This work is entirely fictional and I am in no way profiting off of this and i mean no disrespect to the Quintanilla family and offer my condolences to them. 
> 
> The words in Italics are thoughts. The first two chapters will be mostly background but the third chapter is where the plot really begins.

_“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy” - F. Scott Fitzgerald_

Selena

March 31, 1995

The gunshot echoed through her ears as she flung open the door to the motel room. She took off, not daring to look back to see if Yolanda was following her. Adrenaline coursed through Selena’s veins as she ran toward the lobby. _Just get to the lobby. You’re almost there, just a few more feet_ — She froze as a contraction ripped through her, so intense she dropped the papers she’d been holding. _She couldn’t be in labor, not now. It was too early. She had five weeks left._ A trickle ran down her leg, too cold to be the blood that was running down her backside. _Not now baby boy please just hold on until we get to a hospital_ she begged.

The bell above the door jingled as Selena ran towards the front desk. Judging by the look on the receptionist’s face, she looked unrecognizable in her green tracksuit—now rapidly soaked with blood. “Oh my god,” the receptionist murmured as she dialed 911. The blood loss was making her dizzy, she could barely focus on the receptionist’s questions. “I’m 35 weeks... I’m in labor… I think my water just broke,” she trailed off as another contraction hit almost stronger than the first. _Please let them come soon._ The woman then asked who shot her.

“Yolanda… Room 158..” _God, how could Yolanda have done this to her? She had trusted her with the boutiques... with everything that she had worked so hard for._ The paramedics were surrounding her, her vision was starting to fade to black. “My baby… save my baby,” she uttered before losing consciousness.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. She wasn’t supposed to be in labor and fighting for her life after arguing with Yolanda. They were at the hospital now, maybe it was silly but Selena thought her odds were starting to look better at the sight of it. She was standing next to the doctors as they worked on her. Selena didn’t know how she was able to do this, her first thought had been that she had died and this was some sort of heaven. She had decided that she was in some sort of in-between place, a halfway point between living and dying.

“She’s hemorrhaging… Damn it, this stitch isn’t holding... Suction,” said one of the doctors operating on her shoulder. All was quiet in the operating room beside the steady beeping of the machines. Another doctor entered the room and stood by one of the monitors that were monitoring the baby. “Whatever you’re planning on doing, you’d better do it fast because the baby is having decels.”

“I don’t know what else I can do, it looks like the subclavian artery was torn through,” The doctor’s face looked grim underneath the mask.

“Jackson check her pupils.” Another doctor shined a light in her eyes, “Fixed and dilated sir, she’s brain dead.” She was dying. She couldn’t be dead, she had a million things she had wanted to do before then. The most important one though, was being this little guy’s mom.

The doctor monitoring the baby shook her head solemnly before saying to a nurse “Alert the NICU and prep the OR for an emergency c-section.”

Her son was coming now and she didn’t even have a name for him yet. She thought that she would have plenty of time to decide on one. He’s here before she can even think about Chris having to decide that by himself. He isn’t breathing and is immediately surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses. A sudden cry pierces the air and Selena lets out the breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The crowd around him begins to part and she’s able to see him—really see him. He is tiny with a head full of dark hair and she swears that he’s the most beautiful baby she’s ever seen.

She isn’t sure why she’s still here, she’s dead. They had called time of death nearly an hour ago. She waits by her son’s bedside, running her hand through his hair, she wondered if he could even feel this and if he knew that she was there. Selena spent the better part of the next hour testing out names, none of the names she’d picked seemed to fit. Chris had suggested Mateo and she hadn’t really cared for it, but maybe it would be the one.

“Hi, Mateo.” Almost on cue, her son opened his eyes for the first time. She continued talking even though she doubted he could hear her.

“That’s your name huh? I think it suits you, it means ‘gift from God’ and you are. You really are.” Mateo gurgles in response. Selena was about to respond when she hears Chris. There he is, standing on the other side of the glass looking back and forth between the nursery and her family. She is running toward him before she knows it, her heart shattering when she sees them up close. Their eyes are red and puffy and her mom is sobbing into her dad’s chest.

“You should go meet him. If—if it was her, I’d already be gone,” her father says before placing a hand on Chris’ shoulder. Chris nods and says “Me too,” before pushing the door open and walking toward their son. A nurse places Mateo in his arms and Chris took one look at him before letting out a sob. She hates this and she wants to scream about how this isn’t fair. The three of them were supposed to be a family, it wasn’t supposed to be Chris and Mateo alone.

“His name is Mateo Christopher Pérez,” Selena whispered in Chris’ ear and hoped that he could hear her.

*******

It was September now, it had been barely five months since she died. _Dead_. Selena could still hardly wrap her head around it. Heaven truly was a paradise and she was surrounded by her family, who had welcomed her with open arms. She had kept vigil watching over her remaining family, especially Mateo. He was such a happy baby, he had changed so much since the last time she’d seen him. She had to go see him at least one more time.

Selena appeared in the nursery, not much had changed since the last time she was here except for the addition of their little boy. There were more pictures on the walls, mostly of her and Chris including the last one that was taken the night before everything happened. A soft coo interrupted her before she could dwell on that night. Mateo looked curiously up at her, studying her for a moment before smiling at her. _He could see her._ She wasn’t sure how he could, but he was smiling at her.

“Hi Mateo, I don’t know if you remember me but I’m your mama,” Mateo babbled a word that sounded like ma. “Yeah, that’s right, I still can’t believe that I got to be your mom for a few minutes. I know you won’t grow up with me but I know that your daddy’s gonna make sure that you remember me.” She ruffled his hair, Mateo giggled at her before trying to grab her hands. He eventually grew tired of this little game and his eyes began to droop closed. Selena pressed a feather-light kiss to his forehead and whispered an ‘I love you’ before vanishing from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is welcome :) The first two chapters are sad but the third will be more lighthearted. I hope you enjoy reading the first chapter.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between chapters, I wanted to make this chapter as good as possible and life got in the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

_“If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them.” -James O’Barr_

Chris

March 31, 1995

He can’t breathe. His mind is racing and he can’t think about anything other than Selena and the baby. _How could this have happened? He had just talked to her an hour ago._ His dad drives because Chris doesn’t want to believe that they’re hurt. He was told that she had been shot. _Shot?_ He hadn’t expected that. He had expected a car accident or that she was in labor, but this? This wasn’t possible, Yolanda couldn’t have done this. She had loved Selena almost more than any other fan, if she had really loved her, she wouldn’t have hurt her. 

_Please let them be okay. Let them be okay,_ he prayed. He didn’t really pray all that much but he’d start more if both of them pulled through. He practically jumped out of the car the minute his dad parked. 

Chris knew the minute he had looked at Abraham. He had never seen the older man cry before. Normally stoic, Abraham’s eyes were bloodshot, his body hunched over in gut-wrenching sobs. _Selena couldn’t be dead. They were going to have a baby._ Chris met Suzette’s gaze as she gently shook her head no. She catches him before he crumples to the floor and they sob in each other’s arms. 

A dark-haired doctor entered the room and looked around briefly before heading toward them. She introduced herself as one of the doctors who had worked on Selena and their baby. Though she appeared calm, her voice trembled as she described what had happened in the operating room and that they had managed to save his son.

 _Alive. Their son was alive._ Chris should have felt relieved at the doctor’s words but instead, he felt numb. It just didn’t seem fair that their son was alive and Selena wasn’t here to see him. How did that saying go? People plan and God laughs. He would say that God has a sick sense of humor but there is no God because no God would do this. 

The doctor asks if he’d like to go see his son and he doesn’t know what to do. Chris looked helplessly at the Quintanillas, who were just as stunned as he was. It was Marcella who broke the silence and told him that it’s okay and that she’d like to see her grandson. They trail behind him wordlessly as the doctor led them to the nursery and pointed out a baby boy swaddled in a blanket with a blue cap on his tiny head. He seemed to be the only baby that wasn’t surrounded by family. Chris couldn’t help but look at the mothers holding their babies and realized that Selena would never hold hers, she wouldn’t have the experiences that she dreamed about. 

The doctor tells him that he could go see his son whenever he was ready. _Ready?_ Chris doubted that he would ever be ready for this, not without Selena. He turned toward Selena’s father, “I don’t know how to— I can’t do this on my own. We were supposed to do this together and now it’s just me... I don’t know what I should do. What do I do?” 

Abraham paused for a minute before saying, “You should go meet him. If—if it was her, I’d already be gone.” 

Chris murmurs “Me too,” before pushing open the door to the nursery and sitting in the chair by his son’s bed. 

A nurse placed their son in his arms and he’s afraid he might drop him. Selena would have called him perfect and all he wanted right now, more than anything else in the world is for her to be here with them. 

“Hey there little guy, I guess I’m your dad… I don’t know how good I’ll be without your mommy here but I’m gonna try.” Chris pushed back the tiny cap to reveal a head full of black hair that was already starting to curl. “You’ve got my hair huh? There’s not much we can do about that I’m afraid,” he ran a hand over his son’s hair before continuing. 

“We really should’ve decided on your name sooner but we just couldn't agree. Your mom liked all of these long, fancy-sounding names but I- I told her that the poor kid’s never going to be able to fit his name on anything.”

He swears he’s going crazy because he heard Selena’s voice whisper a name for their baby boy. _Mateo Christopher Pérez._ Mateo was a name that his mom suggested when he and Selena couldn’t decide. Selena had insisted on Christopher for his middle name after she’d heard that it was somewhat of a family tradition to have the firstborn son’s middle name be their father’s first name.

She looked so beautiful even in death. Chris couldn’t believe that he had to say goodbye to Selena. They were alone and everything he wanted to say came pouring out of him, he told her everything about their little boy and how he’d finally picked a name for him. 

“I’m going to tell him every day about you so he won’t ever forget,” he brushed away a stray curl from her face. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you but I’ll figure it out. I-I know you have to go and it’s okay. You go, Mateo and I will be fine, I promise. I love you, I’ll always be in love with you.” He slipped her wedding ring back on her finger, taking one last look before he closed the lid, memorizing every last detail of her face. He wanted to go with her, just lie next to her and close the lid but he knew that she’d never forgive him for leaving Mateo.

******

Chris couldn’t believe that it had been almost a year since Selena died. 1995 had been a hell of a year with the trial and everything surrounding it. He didn’t care what happened to Yolanda because nothing would bring Selena back to him. 

After Selena’s death, time seemed to stand still but Mateo was proof that it didn’t. At 10 months old, he was a ball of fire, getting into anything and everything. Not quite walking yet but that didn’t stop him from crawling as fast as he could to try and keep up with his older cousins. 

Chris flipped through one of his mother’s many photo albums while Mateo cruised along the couch. His mom had documented everything meticulously, dedicating a whole page to his and Selena’s baby shower a year ago. _They had been so happy, so excited for the future. How had it all gone so wrong?_ Chris was snapped out of his thoughts when Mateo tried to pull the book out of his hands. 

“You want to see what I’m looking at, don’t you buddy?” Mateo giggled at him as Chris placed him on his lap. Chris pointed out various family members before Mateo pointed at a picture of Selena. The photo had been taken after her last concert, she had been exhausted but it was hard to tell from her bright smile. 

“That’s your mama, she loves you so much even though she’s not here anymore.” Mateo babbled back at him as he continued. “You remind me of her so much, you may be my twin but you’ve got her smile and her personality,” he laughs. “You’re gonna give me gray hairs just trying to keep up with you.” Chris tried to flip the page but Mateo pointed at the picture again and smiled before saying his first word, “Mama.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter, I know it was dark and somewhat depressing but I promise that next chapter will be more lighthearted and you'll get to meet grown up Mateo. Mateo will become the main POV after the next chapter. Thank you for reading, let me know what you think :)


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